UW band gets little rest during Rose Bowl week

The University of Wisconsin Marching Band has another typically frenetic schedule in the run-up to the Rose Bowl next week.

After its final rehearsal Monday, Dec. 27 at 6:30 p.m. in the McClain Athletic Facility, 1436 Monroe St., the group flies out of Madison at 7 a.m. the next day and begins performing almost as soon as members can grab their gear off the L.A. airport baggage carousels.

In 1993-94 and again in 1998-99, the band entertained southern California with its many Rose Bowl-related performances in the Los Angeles area. This time, its itinerary again includes daily rehearsals and public appearances including:

• A concert aboard the historic ocean liner, the Queen Mary, Long Beach, 2:30 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 28.
• A performance at Knott’s Berry Farm, Buena Park, 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 28.
• A mini-parade and pep rally at the Disneyland train station, Anaheim, 1 p.m., Wednesday, Dec. 29.

The band will also continue a tradition it began in 1993 when it literally rocked the Santa Monica pier with a rousing nighttime performance that attracted thousands of Badger fans and curious spectators. The band will perform at the Badger pep rally at the ABC Entertainment Center plaza, across from the Century Plaza Hotel, Century City, 3:30 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 30. And of course, there’s the Rose Bowl parade and Wisconsin’s Rose Bowl halftime show. The show will feature “The Sounds of the Beach Boys,” and once again the band will perform its zany Fifth Quarter for approximately 20 minutes following the game and the award presentations.

The Wisconsin band will offer a clear contrast to the Leland Stanford Junior University Marching Band.

“We always try to emulate what a good Broadway show would offer in terms of content, precision and performance,” says the Wisconsin band’s inimitable director Michael Leckrone, who has led his troops for 30 years.

Make no mistake — he and his charges always have a lot of fun providing what Leckrone has called “hard-core entertainment” and encouraging audience participation. They play to sell-out crowds at their spring concert shows, now approaching their 26th year.

The Stanford band is a student-run organization that marches to a different drummer – in fact, it doesn’t march at all, and its members don’t wear traditional marching band uniforms. It is known as a scatter band – one of only a handful across the country. Its members run screaming onto the field, then scatter or scramble from one loose formation to another, focusing on a humorous theme rather than their music.

Under the heading “Differences between us and them” on the Stanford band’s Web site, it notes, “Some scatter bands tend to theme their shows around making fun of the other school. … (We) usually stick to lampooning current events or other things that seem funny. Unless the other school happens to be U$C or Cal.”

“One of the big differences between us has to do with organization,” says Leckrone’s assistant director Michael Lorenz.

“With a student-run band, it’s hard to maintain a tradition of organization throughout the years. There is no constancy of leadership, something we’re very fortunate to have at Wisconsin.”

For more information, contact the band office at (608) 263-1896.